The Lucid Effect 4: The Trucker

The Lucid Effect presents a new Lucid, first with only mundane abilities that encapsulate their former lives, and a possible incarnation with supernatural talents building off their previous skills.

The Basic Template spends only basic Character Points and 5 Lucid Points.
The Lucid Template fills out the character presenting a near complete New Lucid.

While cities maintain hydroponic farms, and any number of factories, plants, and any number of construction crews, no city is fully independent. Every day cargo comes in and goes out across the world, by plane, train, and of course by the “big-rig” truck. Local, interstate, even international commerce relies on women and men willing to haul material for hours, or days on end.

Enduring long hours of solitude the Trucker must remain focused and aware of their surroundings. It is not just a sedentary complacency as it’s easy to tune out and loose track of the endless miles of roadway. Often overlooked by society in general freight drivers often exist in the margins. Stopping only in secluded areas away from the general populace on the road, and rarely given any real time to mingle with the real world they live between worlds.

The livelihood of the Trucker is dependent on how fast they can move cargo. Violating speed limits only saves so much time, its easy to turn to powerful stimulants to keep a driver awake for days on end. Often, the remote truck stops offer a host of illicit substances and access to other vices, along with more commonplace services such as a laundrette and small sleeping coffins.

Our Trucker is someone from this half glimpsed subculture. We know that they will need to be strong and have impressive endurance to deal wit the constant loading and unloading of their cargo, as well as maintain the long hours on the road. We add the Concentration skill for the mental focus required. Maintenance, to keep the rig on moving and Perception to avoid accidents. Area Knowledge Highways means never wasting time with maps and we round things out with a handful of skills one may pick up living in the shadow of society.

Where we go from here? To continue to explore the idea of this missed society, our Trucker dreams of something better, of a belonging and purpose. For this we turn to the Slumber.  With only an idea, or ideal, it may be difficult to decide where to go for powers. Fortunately, the Slumber is all about new possibilities. To take the idea of indecision, and questioning a step further  instead of boosting the Truckers raw Strength, Constitution, or Mental we look at Abilities  Foci, and  Boons  that augment these. Conversely,  we want to cultivate the dreaming nature of our Trucker, and for that we highlight one of the Slumber’s core Foci: Enter The Dream Flow.

By selecting Boons which blend in with the Trucker’s curiosity, we create a character capable of so much, and yet they may not even realize it. In fact, the Trucker’s gifts may have developed over years without them ever realizing they had really changed.  Few Lucid have this luxury, and having this illusion taken from them can make for an interesting opening story.

Enter the Dream Flow (Slumber): Although not a true Gateway, Slumbering Lucids seem to be able to enter the Dream Realm with far more ease than others. In these minor crossings or dives, the character is bombarded with the memories and emotions of all those sleeping. The character may take a turn to make an Advanced (25) Enter the Dream Flow roll to retain a fraction of this knowledge after waking. On a successful roll, the player chooses 1 Skill (even
one they do not already possess), which they may then use their Enter the Dream Flow Focus as a supporting characteristic for on the next turn.

Fabric of Dreams (Slumber): Fortune smiles on the dreamer, making the luck of a Slumbering Lucid quite legendary. What is real and what is illusion meld together to form a single truth around the Slumbering Lucid. This Focus may be used as a supporting characteristic for any Fortune tree roll.

If someone told you, you have the keys to the universe, all you need do is imagine them. Would you believe them?

Slumbering Awareness
(Sense/Slumber – Typical)
Requirements: Fabric of Dreams 3 (F)
The character taps into the Slumber, drawing out supernatural senses. They may use their Fabric of Dreams (F) as a supporting characteristic for any Sense Tree roll.

Slumbering Fortitude
(Constitution/Slumber – Typical)
Requirements: Fabric of Dreams 3 (F)
The character taps into the Slumber, supernaturally enhancing their constitution. They may use their Fabric of Dreams (F) as a supporting characteristic for any Constitution Tree roll.

Slumbering Might
(Strength/Slumber – Typical)
Requirements: Fabric of Dreams 3 (F)
The Lucid taps into the Slumber, drawing out their full strength. They may use their Fabric of Dreams (F) as a supporting characteristic for any Strength Tree roll.

Slumbering Dragon
(Fortune/Slumber – Major)
Requirements: Enter the Dream Flow 12 (F), Seven other Supernatural OR Slumber Boons
The Lucid’s ability to manipulate the Slumber grants them fearsome abilities in combat. They may declare all dice for a single combat roll as 6’s after rolling. When using this Boon, the character is obviously bending reality to achieve their goals, such as moving faster than a bullet or leaping into the air from a prone position, only to land a devastating attack on a nearby foe.

All we need now is a reason to rise to the challenge.